


The Surprise Hug!

by Cenobia100



Series: Salermelons, Davocados & Ormangos, oh my! [1]
Category: Password (Visual Novel)
Genre: I just really wanted to write this scene, M/M, Sal is best boy, Visual Novel Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 11:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19904830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cenobia100/pseuds/Cenobia100
Summary: “Dreams. Nightmares. They’re both scary; I’m almost willing to be mindful of them now.”Who knew that a potential brush with death would bring about a surprise hug? Dave's noting that one down.





	The Surprise Hug!

**Author's Note:**

> Password is a visual novel created by Grizz, which is currently being updated every month. I recently discovered it and fell in love with the premise - Seven guys score a one month holiday to a creepy mansion and while you'd think romance is going to flourish, the Visual Novel has a horror element that reminds me of the Zero Escape games, in particular. And that's a good thing if you're being compared to those titles.
> 
> This is the last scene implemented so far into Sal's Route - Which I got the urge to write about - Normally I'd go full fanfic and have a story beyond this scene planned out, but since the actual source material ends at this point, I'd rather not progress as I'd like to keep the characters as canon as possible. 
> 
> Grizz, if you're reading this, keep up the brilliant work - Your visual novel is one of the highlights of my year so far!

‘ _Day Seven_ ’, Dave thought groggily as his eyes blinked open, moving to block the faint morning light of the dawn outside by shielding his face with his furred hand. He felt surprisingly exhausted, trying to recall the night’s events as he reached around for his phone, finally grasping it as he felt alongside the bedside table to his left. 

Bringing up his phone to his eyes, he grumbled in annoyance as he stared at the time on his lock screen. Just why on earth had he woken up at six in the morning, of all things? Wasn’t Sal the early riser of their small group of friends? He much preferred the more luxurious idea of sleeping in, especially when on holiday for a month at a luxury mansion. 

Though as he placed his phone back on the table, prepared to tuck himself back under the covers and curl up in a fluffy ball until a reasonable time to wake up, he jumped in surprise when he heard a knocking coming from the bedroom door.

Not the softest of knocks, nor the loudest, like whoever was knocking was attempting to get his attention without coming across as irritatingly loud. He almost had half a mind to ignore the knocking and, for a moment, he hesitated before deciding that it was probably important if someone was here this early, as he slipped out of bed, dressed in only his red boxer shorts.

It was too damn early for modesty.

Gliding his fingertips against the doorknob, he was surprised when the door was opened from outside, swinging inwards carefully to reveal the rather large green mass of Crocodile that was Sal, dressed in his black sport shorts, his usual white shirt nowhere to be seen, though, given the tired look in his eyes, Dave assumed the Croc had only just gotten up himself.

“Oh,” Dave muttered, his mind beginning to race all of a sudden as the events of the previous night came flooding back, all the while trying to process the fact that Sal was shirtless and probably wanted to come in.

Taking a timid step back, he recalled that Orlando had planned on sending Sal his way when the Croc woke up and judging by how Sal almost sheepishly entered the room, closing the door quietly behind him, it was pretty clear that Sal must have found out about his sleepwalking escapade at the very least. 

Dave couldn’t help but gulp from his own nerves, wondering how Sal was going to react, though he was already acting extremely odd though - Dave couldn’t make eye contact with the Croc and he wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, not to mention that Sal was probably the biggest person here, yet at that moment he was taking up way less space than Dave was used to; though Sal didn’t seem angry at the very least.

Finally, Sal broke the awkward silence with a just as awkward sounding mutter of, “Orlando… Told me what happened.” 

Dave, hoping to try and make the situation a little less uncomfortable, tried to give a chipper reply, though it came across as way more squeaky than he’d have liked. “Oh, uh… don’t worry about it,” He weakly smiled, trying to keep himself from letting out one of his patented awkward Hyena chuckles. “We thought it might happen, right?” 

Though he felt himself tense up as Sal shook his head, placing a scaled hand on Dave’s shoulder in what could only be described as a sobering concern.

“Not that,” Sal muttered, his voice quieter than before. “He…” 

There was a pause as Sal seemed to be trying to find the right words to say, a clear look of unease in his expression as his eyes suddenly connected with Dave’s own with a gaze of severity. “...He mentioned the freezer, too.”

Dave wasn’t sure how to respond, his mouth suddenly feeling rather dry, like he wasn’t sure what to say. Though the entire situation fit the bill for being tough to explain anyway.

Just the day before, he’d decided to mess with the vault in the basement since he couldn’t sleep, only to type in a password that was actually accepted into the system, being DREAMER. And then there was that momentary blackout and the flickering of the lights and then… That image…

Sal, in the Freezer, sleeping. At least, that’s what he thought at first. But then later that afternoon Orlando had mentioned that the Freezer wasn’t the best place to sleep, especially for cold-blooded critters like Sal. And that’s when it clicked in Dave’s mind - Whatever he’d seen, it was grim, he had to prevent it from happening - He could feel in his bones that it might have happened had he not warned Orlando about the sleepwalking.

And of course, he’d sound crazy, raving about seeing his friend dead in a dream after putting in a password into that old vault. No wonder Sal looked so concerned. And that wasn’t even getting into Oz, the voice in his room that appeared last night that practically confirmed his fear that he wasn’t hallucinating any of this, what with the whole, ‘Your friends have been marked for death’ message. 

But Sal couldn’t know about any of that. Not yet, not when Dave himself was still trying to work out what was going on.

“Oh… Well… It was just a dream, right?” He suggested, lying through his teeth as he had already sobered up to the idea that it wasn’t some ordinary dream.

He wasn’t expecting Sal’s staring to intensify, his gaze practically boring into him, as if he were searching for something in Dave’s expression. Did Sal know that he was holding back information? Or was Dave just imagining things? Sal was perceptive, but was he that perceptive?

After a few tense moments, the Croc looked away, breaking their eye contact with a sigh, bringing his other hand up to rub at his snout in exasperation. 

“Dreams. Nightmares. They’re both scary; I’m almost willing to be mindful of them now,” Sal admitted, his voice laced with a deep fear and weariness. 

Though after the sleepwalking from the night before and the alternative that could have happened had Dave and Orlando not been there to steer Sal back to bed… The reptile’s words were well-founded.

Things were quiet for a few more moments, Dave unsure of what to say, Sal, just standing there as awkwardly as he had been from the moment he’d entered. This wasn’t like the calm silence on the bus ride there that they had shared, nor was it like their many chats by the pool, this was a silence that had Dave feeling all kinds of weird. Not exactly bad, per se, but definitely weird.

“Um…” Sal finally muttered, Dave, glancing up at him once more.

Only to suddenly feel Sal’s arms wrap around him so quickly that the most he could do was brace himself for impact, placing his hands against the Croc’s rather broad chest, while Sal initiated quite possibly the most surprising hug of Dave’s life.

The feeling of Sal’s scales was rough and coarse in comparison to the fur that Dave was used to, but he found himself surprisingly drawn to the texture of Sal’s scales, finding them fascinating to feel. He was even surprised that while Sal was a cold-blooded animal, he was still radiating a lot of heat from his sheer body mass, which was causing Dave’s face to light up like a Christmas tree through his grey fur, much to his mortification. 

And he was only in his boxers. It was too _early for_ this!

Though to his credit, Sal seemed just as embarrassed by the whole ordeal, breaking up the hug moments later and stepping back as if he hadn’t intended to send Dave’s adrenaline and confusion spiking from that surprisingly intimate gesture.

And Dave couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of sadness at the breakup of the hug. It may have surprised him, but he’d actually felt quite comfortable, safe even, in Sal’s embrace. Like nothing could hurt him. 

“Thanks, Dave. I’ll, uh…” Sal motioned back towards the bedroom door, taking a step backwards, tripping over his words. “Yes, uh.”

“R-Right,” Dave stammered back, bringing a paw to rub the back of his head sheepishly. 

Though as Sal backed against the bedroom door, he seemed to get his composure back ever so slightly, “Um… See you at breakfast?” Though before Dave could even answer, Sal had already slipped open the door and exited the room, almost as if he were embarrassed.

No, scratch that, he was definitely embarrassed and for Dave the feeling was mutual.

“What on earth…?” Dave muttered to himself, once he was sure Sal was out of earshot. 

Still, he couldn’t help but feel relieved that the explanation about the events of the night before had gone over well, though he’d need to check in with Orlando at some point to find out exactly what happened. 

And then it hit Dave like a ton of bricks. 

Sal had _hugged_ him. 

When on earth had Sal hugged any of the group since they’d met? The most physical interaction you’d get is a hand on the shoulder or some friendly pats while swimming, maybe some interaction at the gym or the sly whack of his tail if you did something stupid - A hug was practically unheard of in the world of Sal. 

“What does this mean?” Dave muttered to himself, his mind racing over whatever options he could think of.

Well, after the events of the afternoon prior when the pair had sat down in the dining hall for that conversation about Dave’s apparent innocence, the Hyena had to assume that the hug was platonic. Sal had made it very clear he wasn’t interested - Or at the very least, it wasn’t on his mind.

Sure, he hadn’t said it in words, but after Dave stupidly asked Sal if he liked him like that, it was clear by Sal’s hesitation and refusal to really say anything that regardless of whether Dave had decided to pry or not, it wouldn’t have been a good answer. Though he was glad that he and Sal were apparently past that awkward conversation if the hug was anything to go by.

Plus it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Orlando had a major crush on Sal and that if Sal did like other guys, he’d probably want to date Orlando, who practically worships the Croc and everything he does. They were even trying to learn each other’s hobbies, with Sal attempting cooking. And Dave was drafted into helping Orlando learn to swim, which he found himself looking forward to. 

And they were both reptiles. Orlando had been using the fraternal card for months.

But still, had Orlando ever been hugged like that by Sal? 

And more importantly - Did Dave _want_ to be hugged like that by Sal again? It _had_ been nice and the pair had been clicking really well ever since they’d arrived (even if he’s fairly sure Orlando wanted to kill him for taking Sal as a teammate) but weren’t they just friends…? 

“Do I like Sal…?” He muttered to himself silently.

Letting out a groan of confusion, Dave flopped back onto his bed with a sigh, grabbing his phone to look at it again. Ten minutes past six in the morning and he definitely wasn’t going back to sleep, was he? Not with all of this going on in his head. 

So with a resigned sigh, he promptly decided to hop into the shower and get himself dressed, leaving his comfy bed behind. Maybe he could get down to the kitchen early and chat with Orlando before breakfast. The dragon had talked to Sal already, so he had to be up making something in the kitchen, knowing him. 

And he couldn't keep Sal waiting at breakfast.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find the current build of Password over on itchio - https://passwordvn.itch.io/password
> 
> Go try it out!


End file.
